Making it through another year, '23-'24

[Peter Drouin]

You said the show could be run better with ads and all. Have you thought of you setting up shows and getting 100 vendors in? If they sell something good, If not it's their luck but, you will have the $$ no matter what.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, there is a lot more to that than one might think at first. First you need a venue, then insurance, and help for parking etc. This is why most of these are put on by organizations that already have the grounds/building, insurance, and some people. That stuff is already in place and they just need a plan and do the work. We do have a few folks around here that just put on shows, they rent the hall, pay the insurance, and collect money from the vendors, but many do no advertising at all to save money/work for themselves. 
 I don't really want to get into that racket, it's too much like a real job with all the nonsense that goes along with it. I have thought of hosting a 'private showing' with about 4 to 6 of the better crafters/builders at my place, but the one guy who would be an anchor is hosting monthly open houses at his place and drawing a crowd, another has moved up the ladder and is doing some very high end shows up and down the east coast. So I'll sit on that idea until I find the right players.
 The key for me now is finding the right shows/venues where I can fit in, sell some stuff, and get in and out easy. This selling stuff is not natural for me and I really have to force myself to make that first step. Two of the shows I did last year will be a no-brainer to do again and one of those had terrible wet weather and the crowd was 10% of normal, but I did OK anyway. The other was just a good show for me in general, I sold some stuff. The 3rd show was one I will think hard about this year, and if I go, it will be with just a short load of small stuff. I didn't sell much there at all.
 I am hoping all these shows just connect people to me and they will call me later with customs or whatever. I give out a lot of cards and brochures.

[Peter Drouin]

Just an idea that popped into my head.

[Nebraska]

Do they have any vendors associated with Grey Fox?

[Old Greenhorn]

Yes Grey Fox has two different 'Vendor Rows' and they have food, clothes, hats, instrument makers, and festival type things. But it's based on doing a lot of sales because of the high traffic and is expensive. My wife got a booth there one year and she might have done OK if the costs weren't so high. It also means being in your booth nearly 10-12 hours a day for 4 days. It's just not a good fit for me, besides, I have too much fun working the festival.  I have talked to many vendors over the years about how they did, and very few of them really do well. The crowd comes for the music and they have already spent a bunch for their tickets and travel to get there. They just want to have fun.
 Its' a good thought though.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I had a lazy day today, I did some finishing work on the park bench but not much. I piddled with other stuff but it was such a nice day I just wanted to enjoy it. It hit 84° today! So it was time to put the screen door back on so the cats could enjoy the fresh air and what the boids and chickmunks better.  They seemed pleased with that development.
 I finished my little mental celebration of the new storage system in the trailer and moved on to more of the details. Part of my issue is that things are always packed nicely when I go to the show, but packing up the show I can't remember how it was all packed, which causes a mess, and repacking at home after the show. So  the new plan is to have all the small stuff in boxes and mark the boxes with what goes in them, packing should be easier. I still have crates to make after I make the lumber, but in the meantime I took out all the stuff I hastily threw in boxes packing up the show and sorted it. It became really obvious that I did a less than poor job, with wasted space in some crates and over packing in others and similar product in different boxes. When I was done sorting and re-packing what I could, I had one empty box and one empty crate. Still need to make those 'right sized' crates, but it's looking better with every iteration. I think the labeling is going to help a lot. I also found one more stool (actually a foot riser) and had no problem strapping it down with the benches. Still more room in that stack.  I need to label the shelves in it so I know which bench was in what position, that will speed things up also. So most of my stuff is much better stowed away now. 2 to 3 more crates and it will all be good.
 I will say, it gets HOT in that trailer without the back door open. 95° today. I am going have to re-locate it so it does not get sun most of the day like it did today. I just have to move the splitter out of my way first. The woodpile area is a mess.
 So this day was not very exciting, but progress is being made and that is something. Just kind of a lazy day for me as I try to pick myself up after that last failure.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[doc henderson]

can you take a few projects to show that are not done, and maybe do some sanding with a batt operated sander and such (as Howard would say).  It may draw some attention, and draw folks in.  It will reiterate that you make these, and I doubt it, but might even get some stuff done.  the hope would be that you are constantly interrupted by folks that want to buy stuff.  do you have a white tarp to go over the trailer could even make a side tend for the trailer.  you can sit there enjoying the day.  the repack may always be hard, especially if you sell the bigger stuff that other things nested in.  you are moving forward and making progress.  

[Old Greenhorn]

You know Doc, that's an interesting thought that I have ben pondering since last year. If I had something I was piddling along on it might create interest or  least a conversation. The question is, what to do? Sanding is pretty boring work. Anything I might do that would generate chips or heavy sawdust means I need to clean that stuff up and I would need to use part of the booth as work space. It's a delicate balance. But I am thinking about it. I don't have any battery sanders, but I could get one if hat fits. I thought about spending that idle time working on learning how to carve a little. I got a battery powered (USB charge) ryobi carving tool that was on clearance at HD last week. Not very good and I see what they are trying to get rid of them, but I could try working with that. (I can charge USB's in the trailer). I could take some stool seats and drill the leg holes, fit and glue legs, cut the tops off, but again. I need some work space. It's a good idea and I have been rolling it around in my head.
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So today was another easy day. We had one of the grandson's today, so there was that distraction here and there. I stuck to the plan today. I did a bit of sanding and then put another coat of finish on the park bench. (I still have not done the paint work on the legs, continuing to procrastinate on an unfamiliar process.) The I began work on fitted crates I still need. Between the Grandson questions, distractions, and diversions I managed to make two crates, one that would hold the two countertop bookshelves intended for cookbooks or the like, and the other for those cookie mirrors I make. That covers the need crates, I labeled them, packed them up and stored them in the trailer. So at this point I have a 'home' for everything in the trailer and each crate is labeled so it should be easier to re-pack everything during close up/pack out.
 At this point I can see I have a lot more room than I did 2 weeks ago. I can fit several more crates easily and one or two more big items.
 This whole process has been good for me thinking a lot of things through. I know for instance that my little rustic stools made from fist cut slabs sell for about $40. and seem to go quick. I am mostly out of them and just have stools with turned maple legs. SO I need to make a bunch of those little short stools, they won't take much room and can make something of a show when there is nothing else. Everybody seems to need a foot stool so they can reach the upper cabinets in the kitchen or get kids up so they can reach the sink and brush their teeth, or whatever. I sold one to a guy who sent me a follow up 'thank you' email to tell me he uses it to sit in front of his woodstove every morning to get the fire re-started and drink hi morning coffee. He call it his 'happy place' to start his day. So yeah, I gotta make more of those. I need to make legs first, lots of legs.
 So that's the plan going forward. Finish this park bench that I can't fit in the trailer and really don't want to bring to shows anyway, it's pretty dang heavy to boot. Then I will start whacking out legs and stools. I have to get back to milling, Bill has ben very patient. BUT before I can do all that, I just got another log order today (new and promising client) and since we have at least two more trees Bill needs taken down before leaf out, this works well. So I am hoping for another marathon afternoon tomorrow taking two big trees and filling my trailer with mushroom logs. That is, after Ballet lessons. Bill (and Inga) have ballet every Saturday at 11 am, so we have to work around that. But we are used to that. Ballet always takes precedence in the schedule.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[doc henderson]

I agree sanding is boring but not to a 60 y/o lady who sees your cookbook rack.  the noise and motion may get them to look and watch.  could try the inverter on the battery, but not sure how much time you would get.  or even hand sanding but risk having a dozen men tell you that "you know they have machines for that now".  any who.

[aigheadish]

Maybe consider having some card scraper projects... Doing the finishing touches on a stool or something with a finely tuned card scraper will appear that you are doing magic to a lot of people.

I feel like I've suggested it before but I say stool kits for parents/grandparents to build with kids would be a hit.

Also, somehow I missed your posted pictures of the racks in the trailer, that looks great!

Once the moving blankets are in there providing some padding will you be able to minimize some of the straps? I'd think just a strap or two across the whole lot might hold things well enough.

[mudfarmer]

Missed the park bench stuff, is it a cast iron leg set? I have a couple to do that have come out of the trash and will wait and "go to school on your dime" as Don P would say 

Pretty funny that people will buy a cast iron bench, leave it outside and throw it away when the wood rots!

[Old Greenhorn]

That's kind of how I got this one. I don't think I have shared and photos of it yet. It's not very exciting. I made slats for the seat and then had to frame out the backrest. Still putting finishes on that stuff. I keep getting runs.
 I'm not sure, maybe today is the day, but I dunno.

[mudfarmer]

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses of broken handled tools and well built discards yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

My little empire is built on it   

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah Mudfarmer, tat's how I got a lot of my tools and stuff, dumpsters in shops and other folks cast off's that I had little trouble making work like new again. One of the best is my water pump on my rain barrel. It is a 200gpm diaphragm pump that is acid proof and sells for about $1,200. Runs on compressed air. I found it in a dumpster and traced it back to the maintenance mechanic that disposed of it. I asked him what was wrong. He said it's shot, don't work, so he replaced it. So I took it home (against company policy of course) and found that all the joint screws were loose and it was leaking air. Tightened it all up and it's been running great for 3 years. I gotten more tools out of dumpsters in shops I've worked in than most people own.
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Odd day today, not much in the morning, I did so touch up coats on the bench parts, then I started messing with the two tone paint deal on the cast iron parts. After a while I gave up and just painted it all black. But ran out of paint before I could finish. I'll get another can next trip to town.
BTW, here's a photo of this thing last week with everything in the white. The back is held on with clamps while I drilled mounting holes.




 I had to wait until Bill (and Inga's) ballet lessons were over and they had lunch. (No Bill doesn't take lessons, but we all joke that Bill goes to ballet class at 11am every Saturday, which he does. Even Inga enjoys the joke and chimes in "Yeah and he is getting really good with his twirls and spins!") So they beeped when they went by and I followed them home and we took down two nice sized red oaks, These were hazard trees with back lean and we had hung tethers a couple of weeks ago in them. We tied a bull rope on the tethers and I got the mule in position and hooked up the winch to the bull rope. I was pulling the tree directly at me, which is an 'odd feeling'. The first one as bigger and Bill wedged it and I pulled, but honestly, he got it with the wedge because he was faster than the winch.   But the winch was for security against the hazard, which in this case, was pretty large. The tree top landed 15' in front of the Mule windshield. We limbed it and I marked and cut logs and let them lay. Then we reset for #2 and this one had a very hard lean and was 6" away from a hot tub stood up on end (hey, you never know when somebody will need one, am I right?), but behind that was a bucket truck for parts and then the shop building. So as soon as he had the front notch in, I loaded up the line, and then loaded it some more and never let off when had had the back cut running. Again I pulled it right at me and it was cool to watch it head my way and land 15' in front of the Mule again. Not something I've ebver done before, but pretty neat and the quickest way to get it done. Bill helped me limb that one too, but then he had to beat feet to make another event with Inga and I worked around these trees for another hour or more bucking logs and then collecting them. I loaded about 25 on the Mule packed my gear in and parked the Mule next to the truck and transferred my gear. The plan is to bring my trailer down tomorrow, transfer the logs to the trailer, then fetch out the rest of them and bring the trailer back here to the yard for customer pickup. I counted about 44 logs.
 This was a really last minute order I could have passed on, but I got a good feeling about the client and think there are other 'opportunities' there. Besides, Bill needed these trees down, no matter what and it's better to sell the logs than waste (burn) them, right?
 Man I thought I finished this season over a week ago, and here I am, right back at it. Oh well, money is money. My wife did a flea market thing today, she was out from 7am until 3pm and made 60 bucks and had a nice time. I sweated a bunch., made friends with swarms of little black flies, worked about 3 hours and made about $265.00. Watched Inga climb some more elevator trees and laughed a lot, I think I won.
 Lets see what the weather brings tomorrow, for it's another day.

[Old Greenhorn]

Odd day today. I should have called it a rainout and just headed to the shop or whatever. Instead I felt guilty about taking it easy and after some communication with the new log client it came to past that they could take them today if I could make it happen. So I figured 'what the heck' it wasn't raining all that hard, just a non-stop drizzle, so I might as well make the best of the day and get this out of the way. I was also glad to get these logs to them within 48 hours of being cut because we were kind of stretching the time limit of the season here and leaves were popping on these trees.
 Of course as soon as I hitched up the trailer, the rain became steady . I headed to Bill's had a cup of coffee with them and then got to work. Off-loaded the Mule and got the next load out and loaded. I don't like working in rain gear and I soaked through 3 pairs of gloves. I headed to the clients, we all unloaded in a  steady rain. They were very grateful for the logs and my timing. I assured them not to get used to this, it just worked out this time. They gave me a $60, tip because they said I had saved their season because they would have waited until next winter to order. SO I guess it was worth getting wet.
 Now I don't feel like I wasted a day today, I am a day ahead, and Bill is really happy we got those trees down. He say it looks a whole lot better now.
 So everybody is happy now and I picked up another SGU in the process. Yeah I'm tired again, but now I can goof off for the rest of my Sunday.

[Old Greenhorn]

Working full days yesterday and today, but just working. I need some rustic stools for shows because they are a small item but seem to move fairly well. I sold all I had last year. I was out of legs completely after the last 2 rustic benches I made a few weeks back. Yeah, I didn't have a leg to stand on.  (sorry)
 So Monday morning I found some almost square and well dried stock I could make leg blanks from (I am really running out of wood) so I cut 21 blanks almost all maple, but a few were pine (by accident). The immediate plan is for small short step stools and my blanks are 21" long, so I should get a couple of legs out of each blank. Monday I got them squared up at 1.5" and put the mitered corners on them giving me hex legs. Then I put the rough tenon on them and called it a day. I get bored with production work after a few hours. Did some other stuff too. More later on that.
 Today I did al the sanding on the tenons to make them fit my holes better. That step is a little rough on my hands and tedious, so I did them in groups then did something else for a while, then came back to it until I finished. I put them in stock. I have 4 round bottom slabs that I was going to make into benches and did most of the finishing 4 years ago and they have been laying around ever since without leg holes in them. I grabbed one of those and cut it into 4 pieces 12" long for these stools. I refinished the edges and rounded everything off, I drilled the holes and fitted the legs and got them all glued by quitting time. Tomorrow I'll trim the tops of the legs off, fill some ore glue in, and sand it all flush, getting them ready for leg trimming.
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 In between all that I had another 'thing' going on. When I delivered those logs on Sunday I was chatting with the clients and came to learn that they had about a dozen logs they had just inoculated under the guidance of the 'new gal' at the CFA who came over to take them through the process. Her name is Zahra and I know her and we have met a couple of times but never really sat and talked. She has been with the CFA for about a year now, seems like a sharp gal. But I learned that some of these logs were Red Maple and that surprised me. Common knowledge and direct advice from Cornell is that Shiitakes will not grow in RM. So That got my curiosity up. Sunday night I wrote her an email asking about it and inquiring if she had any information that supported growing on RM.
 Monday afternoon I got a nice lengthy reply from her with all the citations she based her decisions on along with links to the associated research and she invited me to give her a call to discuss it. Well I read all the materials and the original study and data that they were based on last night. I was blown away with some of the details, it was a lot to absorb.
 This morning I got up and read the research again, more carefully, it conflicted with a lot of stuff I had been told and a lot of stuff that is taken as common knowledge among my clients. But you can't argue with carefully controlled and collected data.
 Yes, you can grow shiitake on RM, but the yields will be lower. However, if you use logs 5" diameter and up, and inoculate 4 weeks after felling, the yields can be competitive with the oaks and Hard Maple. This was a bit of a mind blower. But the detail that really got me was the scientists and researchers that know the science all seem to know that when you cut the logs, you need to let them rest for 2 weeks while the cell structures in the log re-arrange and the system that fights invasive assaults shuts down. This give the target mushrooms spores an easier and faster leg hold in the log. For RM this has to be even more and they recommend 4 weeks. SO when I called Zahra today we talked about this at length and we both sort of reached the conclusion that this rest period is important and varies by species. I wondered if it is connected to a species tendency to 'stump spout'. RM stump spouts like mad and way more than any of the other substrate species for shiitakes. Stump spouting is a way the tree ensures its survival, the same as it fights invasive molds. So we (I) are thinking they are related.
  The whole issue of letting the logs rest was news to me. Almost all of my clients want to get them inoculated ASAP and it turns out this is not correct and may reduce their yields. SO tonight I spent an hour writing an email for my regular Clients that included the direct links to the studies and reports.
 What this means for me is I don't have to make such an effort to cut and deliver these logs in such short order because they should sit at least 2 weeks anyway. The other thing I learned is that I can begin my winter cutting in December rather than waiting until February. I still won't cut RM for clients unless they request them,  even though they will work, they aren't great and require extra care.
 Mushrooms are a fickle, complicated, and largely misunderstood or poorly known organism. I learn something new every day and today was a big one. But knowledge is power, so I'll take it.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[Nebraska]

The days that you learn for free are usually good days. That was interesting. 

[aigheadish]

I really like when Zahra is on the show and it's nice to hear that she was friendly with you! Great new info for you too, and I imagine this opens the opportunities for new logs.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, I don't see opportunity for new logs in here at all, but it does allow me to cut earlier and provide better logs and better information to my clients along with the science that proves it. One of the many things Zahra and I can agree on is that the more we as humans learn about mushrooms, the less we actually know. Mushrooms are pretty amazing entities.
 She is a pretty smart gall as I guessed, and how can you not like a gal who swings a chainsaw?  I first met her at a show I did at the end of last summer than again a couple of weeks later, but we never had time for more than short chit-chat. We both agreed that our phone call yesterday could have constituted an full radio show all on it's own.
 It seems to me that since she is the first staff person at CFA to really push mushroom education in a hands on manner with one on one teaching, it may become a working subject for a bit longer than it would otherwise. We will likely get together and do a show sometime in the coming months.
 Anyway, it keeps things interesting for me and I like that.

[newoodguy78]

That's a great thing to have a connection with someone with that kind of knowledge. Was interesting reading about what you didn't know    . We're never too old to learn, thanks for sharing. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well my Dad taught me from youth to 'collect' smart people, do them favors when you can, and stay in touch. Someday you may need their help or advice. He was of course, spot on and I have been doing that all my life by habit.
 I was not ready to let this thing go, so this morning I did some more searching and had a hard time finding any truly documented research, especially from Cornell (who should know better). They do have a habit of saying "research shows" but they don't cite the research, which is maddening. I take that to mean "I tried it once and it didn't work" and call that Research. I am finding this happens most in items authored by my former contact at Cornell, confirming what I had thought was sloppy work. I also find that the Cornell materials contradict themselves in various places. Their credibility is getting fairly low with me. The reason I get so riled up about this is because people believe what they read and Cornell is known as an impeccable source of information. Why would people not believe what they read from Cornell? A case in point, I found a flaw in one of their published documents and asked where the data came from. They eventually got back to me and told me the data did not exist and it was strictly informal anecdotal information taken out of context. I explained the negative impact of this mis-information and asked them to fix it and they said they would. 2 years later, they still have not.
 However, there is a mushroom growers supply called Field & Forest that does a remarkable job about sharing information to it's clients and does research and gives the numbers and cites other's research. I am leaning on them for accurate information to pass on. I found several more articles related to the resting period length of time and passed those onto Zahra this morning. She dropped me a quick reply to let me know that some of that was new to her and she would review it. She also said she was going to contact my former Cornell contact for some clarification on these conflicts. I wished her luck with that.  I am pretty much done with him and anything he produces. But she knows him too and might have better success. Who knows?
 Anything for a laugh.

[mudfarmer]

Hey that's cool! Glad you are working so hard to help your clients out and keep them on the right side of the flood of info out there.

The 'rest period' may be related to callus tissue formation? Coincidentally have been doing a deep dive on that topic for unrelated but still Acer related reasons lately-- basically the plant produces a bunch of undifferentiated cells that could become bark, roots, buds, whatever when it is wounded https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callus_(cell_biology)  https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/tree-wounds-and-healing/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/callus

The end cuts of the logs are sealed with wax too, right? This part of the Purdue page may relate callus formation to waiting (rest period) before sealing " painting a wound with any kind of material that interferes or impedes oxygen will slow or even prevent wound closure by poor callus formation. "

Don't forget to leave cut seed potatoes out for the wound to "dry" (form callus tissue!) before planting to prevent rot

[Old Greenhorn]

Great Mudfarmer, more white papers to read!  Gee, thanks.
 Actually I did read those and it sounds like it might be a similar cellular prOcess, but not he same, but they may be related. Log end are never sealed but some branch cuts are, depending on the grower. Scabbed off bark should be waxed to keep the bugs out.
 I don't know how far the known science goes on this stuff for fighting off disease and mold spores. I do know it's quite a battlefield inside those logs. For instance those blacks lines you se in spalted logs are actually 'the front lines' where one species of mushroom will put up a wall to stop the progress of another competing species.
 It's complicated stuff, I should have paid attention more in school. Oh wait.... they didn't teach us any of this stuff.

[aigheadish]

I would have gone to Mushroom class in school.

[chep]

OGH

Lots to learn out there! A couple great talks on fungi are with Paul Stamets on the Joe Rogan podcast. I think he had done 3 or so and they are all amazing!

As for mushroom logs...well wouldn't ya know. I get a txt from an old client who I have done lots of tree work before. Her husband is a chef and wants to grow shitake on red oak. 
Looking for logs...
I am doing a little tsi project on my own property and there were som beautiful little redoaks that just had to go. So my 1st log sale in the books. 
Cut him a bakers dozen at 4 ft. A nice ben franklin in my pocket. Boy they are still heavy!

You are a tough ol coot sir for slinging that many mushroom logs!